Well, I was out shooting some pics yesterday and for some reason they all terrible. I was using a HP Photosmart 435 - 3.1mp. I always use this camera and have not had any problems with it before, minus in very dusty conditions.

Here are some examples.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f4/ATVDad/IM000973.jpg

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f4/ATVDad/IM000977.jpg

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f4/ATVDad/IM000980.jpg

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f4/ATVDad/IM000986.jpg

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f4/ATVDad/IM001000.jpg

Here are the only one's that look half way good

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f4/ATVDad/IM001001.jpg

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f4/ATVDad/IM000999.jpg

Any help would be great !!!

convergent

06-05-2006, 10:16 AM

What mode did you have the camera in - Manual, Auto, one of the scene modes?

It looks like you were shooting all of these at f/4 and 1/30 second. The ISO varied between 100 and 200. So, one thing I can tell you is you didn't have enough light to do much better, unless your camera does pretty well at much higher ISOs. I am guessing that you can't set the aperature any wider (smaller number lets in more light) than f/4, but if you can then you want to do that. Usually the minimum aperaure is written on the camera lens somewhere... even on P&S cameras. You need to get your shutter speed up to 1/250 or faster to not get blur, and even that would be pushing it for the action shots. The only way to do that is add more light (unless you are God, then that wouldn't be an option here), use flash which I don't know if it would have done much to help you... I see that you didn't use flash, or increase ISO. Your camera might let you go up to ISO400.

All of that said, is there a sports mode you can set the camera to?

convergent

06-05-2006, 10:20 AM

I just checked the specs on your camera and the max ISO is 400 and the max aperature is in fact f/4. So, there wasn't much you could do here other than go to ISO400 and turn on flash. Going to ISO400 from ISO200 still would not get you to a fast enough shutter speed to stop the moving ATVs, but it might have been OK for the landscape shots... however it may have introduced noise (grain) also.

Orgnoi1

06-05-2006, 10:21 AM

Having not used your camera....

Since it is a bright day out today can you take a picture of something that is sitting still and post it?

It looks from your settings that the light may have been effecting your shots... as it brought your shutter down to 1/30sec @ f/4... normally to shoot moving vehicles such as MX or quads you need a shutter of around 1/250sec or so... just to catch minimal motion blur... and to shoot at 1/30sec is hard for even the best pros on the speeds of MX...

Now as to what I would do to fix the problem... IF you have a way of adjusting your ISO settings on the camera that would be a good start... the pictures show ISO100 which is good in nice daylight but can really hinder the pictures in lower light conditions... if you can bump it up to ISO400 or so you will get slightly more managable results...

ATV Dad

06-05-2006, 10:28 AM

Auto ISO Selection
Flash was on and used

The lens says:
f4.0/f8.0 5.7mm

No sports mode

If I didn't asnwer a question it is because I have no clue what you are talking about :doh

ATV Dad

06-05-2006, 10:30 AM

I will go take some pics now.

ATVinBarbie

06-05-2006, 10:32 AM

Auto ISO Selection
Flash was on and used

The lens says:
f4.0/f8.0 5.7mm

No sports mode

If I didn't asnwer a question it is because I have no clue what you are talking about :doh

Yeah... sometimes you have to ask them to break down the big words into "real" words. LOL

convergent

06-05-2006, 10:32 AM

According to the EXIF data, it said that the flash did not fire. So that may have been the problem. You may want to force the ISO to 400 in this situation next time, if you have that option. I know that the camera doesn't have manual controls, so you also can't push the image by underexposing it and bringing it back in Photoshop. The lighting may have just been too little for your camera.

This is the type of situation where a DSLR is going to really separate itself from the P&Ss. With a DSLR, you'd be able to take the ISO to 1600, and if you had a reaonsably fast lens you'd go to f/2.8, and all of a sudden you are getting some fast shutter speeds.

ATV Dad

06-05-2006, 11:32 AM

OK, I just found a new setting on my Camera. It is a sport setting. I don't know if it wil help.

Here are the pics I just took with the same settings as the ATV pics

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f4/ATVDad/IM000002.jpg

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f4/ATVDad/IM000003.jpg

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f4/ATVDad/IM000004.jpg

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f4/ATVDad/IM000006.jpg

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f4/ATVDad/IM000007.jpg

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f4/ATVDad/IM000009.jpg

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f4/ATVDad/IM000010.jpg

convergent

06-05-2006, 12:15 PM

Well, you have a lot more light here, so its hard to say if this would have solved the problem. These are at 1/500 and f/8, ISO100... which would have captured your ATV just fine. However, there was not enough light to get to that point in your other pictures. Your aperture was wide open at f/4, and you only had the ISO to play with. From ISO 100 to 400 is 2 stops of light. That would let you go from 1/30 to 1/125 shutter speed. It would have been better, but you might have still had a little blur. Try the sports mode in lower light situations and see if it pushes the ISO to 400.

ZR2Blazer

06-05-2006, 02:21 PM

Auto ISO Selection
Flash was on and used

The lens says:
f4.0/f8.0 5.7mm

No sports mode

If I didn't asnwer a question it is because I have no clue what you are talking about :doh

Join the club....i'm still figuring out all the language too....it gets a little overwhelming at times, but stick with it :tup :tup :cheers

ATVinBarbie

06-05-2006, 02:42 PM

One thing I remember doing when I used my Point and Shoot for MX pics... but I'm not sure if your camera does the same thing.... I was able to hold the button down half way... and once it was in focus... I'd get the little red (some cameras green) brackets around the subject in focus... then I could snap the button all the way to catch the picture... and I DID use the sport mode. :tup BEFORE I figured out about holding that button down halfway, I had pictures like yours regardless the lighting. :doh (God forbid I read the manual BEFORE using the camera :blush )

convergent

06-05-2006, 02:56 PM

Join the club....i'm still figuring out all the language too....it gets a little overwhelming at times, but stick with it :tup :tup :cheers
Ooops, I missed the part about "not knowing what I was talking about".

Shutter speed is how long the shutter is open. The longer its open, the more light that comes in.

Aperture is the size of the hole in the lens, and most lense can adjust the size of the hole. The larger the hole (smaller the number), the more light that comes in, AND the narrower the area that is in focus will be (depth of field). Opening up the aperature is how you get a picture where the subject is in focus and everything behind them is blurred. Closing the aperture (called "stopping down"), or increasing the number to say, f/16, will let less light in and also widen the depth of field (good for landscape).

ISO is the same as film speed with film (ASA). It is the sensitivity of the sensor (or film). The larger the number, the more sensitive it is and therefore the less light that is needed to capture the details of the picture.

So, these three settings basically dictate the picture qualities (with the exception of color which I'm ignoring for this discussion). They form a triangle - shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. If you have them set for the right exposure, then if you change one, you have to change one of the other two in the opposite direction to keep the exposure correct. Varying shutter speed will effect stopping the action. Varying the aperature will effect the depth of field. Varying the ISO will effect picture noise or grain.

So, that's it. Your camera will set them automatically and there is no manual mode where you can set them yourself. However, you can just keep an eye on shutter speed... because it is more common sense than the others. If the shutter speed were set at 2 seconds, meaning the shutter would be open for that long, you could reason that anything moving is going to be blurred... and if it were set to 1/8000 of a second, that it would freeze even the fastest moving object. Then everything in between is just having a feel for what works and what doesn't. For a group of folks standing still for a portrait, 1/60 will usually work without blur. But, if something is moving, then 1/60 is too slow. Depending on how much movement you have, usually 1/250 is a good place to go for stopping things... and you go up from there when the action gets faster.

Hope that helps you understand what I was talking about better. ;)

Orgnoi1

06-05-2006, 03:43 PM

The main reason I had you shoot a couple of pics was to make sure that with a sunny day like today that it wasnt a camera issue... now that we know it isnt... for the shots in the lower light you will want to find how to bump your ISO up...and definately try the sports setting...

ATV Dad

06-05-2006, 05:40 PM

I want to make sure I understand what you all are saying I should do.

For fast moving objects turn off my auto ISO speed and only use the 400 ISO speed setting and use the sport setting as well. I should do this no matter what the light situation is.

Is that correct or did I goof something up?

ATV Dad

06-05-2006, 05:46 PM

One thing I remember doing when I used my Point and Shoot for MX pics... but I'm not sure if your camera does the same thing.... I was able to hold the button down half way... and once it was in focus... I'd get the little red (some cameras green) brackets around the subject in focus... then I could snap the button all the way to catch the picture... and I DID use the sport mode. :tup BEFORE I figured out about holding that button down halfway, I had pictures like yours regardless the lighting. :doh (God forbid I read the manual BEFORE using the camera :blush )

I could do that on my Kodak Advantix C800. I loved that camera. I would use 800 speed film and no matter what I was taking pics of they would come out great. I could even take 3 different size of pics with a press of a button, but it was not a digital. So I just had to get a digital :doh

ATV Dad

06-05-2006, 05:47 PM

Ooops, I missed the part about "not knowing what I was talking about".

Shutter speed is how long the shutter is open. The longer its open, the more light that comes in.

Aperture is the size of the hole in the lens, and most lense can adjust the size of the hole. The larger the hole (smaller the number), the more light that comes in, AND the narrower the area that is in focus will be (depth of field). Opening up the aperature is how you get a picture where the subject is in focus and everything behind them is blurred. Closing the aperture (called "stopping down"), or increasing the number to say, f/16, will let less light in and also widen the depth of field (good for landscape).

ISO is the same as film speed with film (ASA). It is the sensitivity of the sensor (or film). The larger the number, the more sensitive it is and therefore the less light that is needed to capture the details of the picture.

So, these three settings basically dictate the picture qualities (with the exception of color which I'm ignoring for this discussion). They form a triangle - shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. If you have them set for the right exposure, then if you change one, you have to change one of the other two in the opposite direction to keep the exposure correct. Varying shutter speed will effect stopping the action. Varying the aperature will effect the depth of field. Varying the ISO will effect picture noise or grain.

So, that's it. Your camera will set them automatically and there is no manual mode where you can set them yourself. However, you can just keep an eye on shutter speed... because it is more common sense than the others. If the shutter speed were set at 2 seconds, meaning the shutter would be open for that long, you could reason that anything moving is going to be blurred... and if it were set to 1/8000 of a second, that it would freeze even the fastest moving object. Then everything in between is just having a feel for what works and what doesn't. For a group of folks standing still for a portrait, 1/60 will usually work without blur. But, if something is moving, then 1/60 is too slow. Depending on how much movement you have, usually 1/250 is a good place to go for stopping things... and you go up from there when the action gets faster.

Hope that helps you understand what I was talking about better. ;)

Thanks for the break down :thumb That glossary is great btw :hail

Orgnoi1

06-05-2006, 05:58 PM

Yuppers... the reasoning is that by going to ISO400 instead of auto it will force the camera to get the fastest shutter it can given the light situations... and of course the sport setting should help with that also...

I want to make sure I understand what you all are saying I should do.

For fast moving objects turn off my auto ISO speed and only use the 400 ISO speed setting and use the sport setting as well. I should do this no matter what the light situation is.

Is that correct or did I goof something up?

ATV Dad

06-05-2006, 06:01 PM

Thanks yall ! You guys are awesome :hail :hail :hail

convergent

06-05-2006, 06:08 PM

I want to make sure I understand what you all are saying I should do.

For fast moving objects turn off my auto ISO speed and only use the 400 ISO speed setting and use the sport setting as well. I should do this no matter what the light situation is.

Is that correct or did I goof something up?

Well, if you are out on a bright sunny day, then you may want to stick with ISO100. I would take a picture and see what shutter speed you end up with... if its too slow, then crank up the ISO. I'd also check to see if it automatically turns it up in sports mode, as it may do that. Just wait until before dusk and try a sports shot... see what you get.

ATV Dad

06-06-2006, 10:50 AM

Well, if you are out on a bright sunny day, then you may want to stick with ISO100. I would take a picture and see what shutter speed you end up with... if its too slow, then crank up the ISO. I'd also check to see if it automatically turns it up in sports mode, as it may do that. Just wait until before dusk and try a sports shot... see what you get.